I am a husband, writer, and teacher exploring what it means to cultivate mental silence.

Two weeks into my experiment...

Two weeks into my experiment...Today marked the 9th day I’ve been collecting data on my heart rate trying to figure out if there is a correlation between listening to calming music in the morning and a lower heart rate by the time I get to work. Here’s the data update...Day 475-home81-workDay 560-home80-workDay 656-home90-workDay 786-home85-workDay 873-home82-workDay 976-home78-workI think it is pretty safe to say that I am pretty chill while I’m at home with the exception of day 7...which was really just a continuation of how I felt the night before due to the terrible day I’d had at work on day 6. I think it is also pretty safe to say that the closer I get to work the higher my heart rate gets. So is the music helping...not really...other than it sounds really nice. I actually gave up on my playlist and started using another app called Brainwave. It has these really cool binaural tones that can be played over some really interesting ambient sounds. I like the way it sounds and have been using it while I walk on the treadmill and when I get to work prior to students coming in to class. Using this app and listening to podcasts less (now only in the afternoons) has shown me that I really do not miss the podcasts. I actually “dumped” several podcasts out of my podcast player of choice (Overcast if you are curious) this past weekend. I thought that was going to be hard but it was not. I do not miss the ones I “dumped” at all. I think I’m going to stick with this routine of binaural tones in the morning along with my quiet shower and breakfast, classical music on the drive to work, and podcasts on the way home. It may not help with my anxiety but it feels right...right now.

More on experimenting...

One week into my experiment...